Matt Marello, Footprint in World Trade Center Dust, 2006, Digital ink jet print on watercolor paper, 30 × 40 inches
Pierogi 2000 has a 9/11-themed set of exhibitions opening tonight from 7-9. I can’t think of a better community with whom to spend this evening.
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I like the confusing perspective of the installation of this exhibition. When one first walks into the gallery, one’s depth perception seems off, and what’s a painted surface versus a three-dimensional surface is a bit of a mystery. I also found some of the images reminiscent of a Gerhard Richter painting of a meadow.
From the press release:
Several large wall pieces loosely depict postcard versions of coastal California. At first glance, these appear to be large multilayered canvas paintings of beautiful scenes rich with glazes and grounded in painting tradition. In fact, they are standard 4×8 foot plywood and sheetrock layered in drywall mud. This mud is pigmented with commercial tints and applied with a trowel more in the tradition of house building than conventional landscape painting.
Dozens of carefully cast, concrete replicas of river rock and quarry stones ranging in scale from overlooked pebbles to average landscaping rock are carefully placed in piles around the gallery. Some rocks blend with the architecture of the space while others supply substructure for the weighty landscape pieces. It soon becomes clear that there is a uniformity of color and a repeat of the forms not present in nature, an evident indication that they are not rocks but replicas. Their function is multi-faceted: they represent the geological foundation of an exterior landscape, their concrete material represents the foundation of a house, while at the same time they are hand-crafted art objects.
There is a rather obsessive quality to making hand-waxed, crafted rocks to present big piles of them. When we walked into the gallery on Saturday afternoon, Dennis Christie told us “We just sold a pile of rocks!”
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You can check out ArtCal for the 100+ openings we care about in the next few days, but I wanted to highlight a few things.
First, part one of our first-ever curating opens this Friday at Dam, Stuhltrager:
Susan C. Dessel, Our Backyard, A Cautionary Tale
Dam, Stuhltrager
Williamsburg
38 Marcy Avenue
Opening: Friday, September 8, 7:00PM – 9:00PM
We also want to try to hit Christopher Reiger’s show at AG Gallery that night. Based on other things I’ve seem out of Team Lump fron North Carolina, the Cinders Gallery show, also opening Friday, should be great.
On Thursday night in Chelsea, we may not make it to all, but I definitely want to try to hit:
It looks like you should just hit 27th Street if you can’t make it to everything.
If you’re in Williamsburg on Thursday night, there is an opening party for The Rider Project at Galapagos art space, 70 North 6th Street, 6-10 pm.
I know I left a huge number of things off (including DCKT, Monya Rowe, and Sixtyseven), but I’m running back to coding now, and recommend just checking out ArtCal to make your own list.
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James and I will be participating in NURTUREart‘s MUSE FUSE series on September 13th at 7PM in Wiliamsburg. We’ll talk about art blogging, collecting, and anything else that comes up.
From their site:
Muse Fuse is an informal forum for the NURTUREart Registry Artists, Curators and their guests to meet and exchange ideas and information. Each meeting features announcements, an interesting speaker, Q & A, and time to meet one another, network and socialize. Please bring any helpful career information you might know of (upcoming deadlines for grants, exhibition opportunities, studios for rent…anything), show invites you might have to announce and distribute, etc. RSVP’s appreciated.
Place: 229 Leonard Street, Williamsburg, L Train to Lorimer Street, walk up Metropolitan Avenue (away from the Manhattan Skyline) 1-2 blocks depending on which stairs you take (front of the train offers closest exit), make a right turn onto Leonard Street, walk three and a half short blocks, its a brick house with glass blocks and bright blue trim between Powers and Grand streets, on the ground floor, the righthand blue door will be open.
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James and I are curating a pair of shows at Dam, Stuhltrager. The first is a sculpture show in their backyard sculpture garden, by Susan C. Dessel. It opens September 8th. ArtCal has the details.
The second part opens on Friday, October 13th. This will be a group show in two of the gallery’s rooms. I’ll post more details once we decide on a name and have finalized the list of artists. The theme you ask? If you know us or read or blogs, you’ll know we have trouble limiting ourselves to one genre or idea. Look for something dealing with our various interests: politics, conceptual art, humor, and beauty.
See also this post from James.
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Their new location (still in Williamsburg!) is 359 Bedford Avenue, between S. 4th and S. 5th Streets. The first show, titled The Unhumane Society opens on the 15th of September.
If you have the cash, there is a benefit preview the night before. Tickets cost $150 each and admit two. We’ll be there, so say “Hi” if you can make it.
[image from the Momenta Art website]
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Pulsewave is a monthly event at downtown space The Tank, showcasing “low-bit, video game influenced musicians and video artists” and “people getting down to the sounds of some rockstar jamming away on nintendos, gameboys, and ataris.”
The performers will be:
Saturday, August 26 @ 10pm sharp – $6
The Tank, 279 Church Street, between Franklin and White
If you schedule yourself well, you can start that evening in the East Village for the Smitten show at Giant Robot and then head downtown for The Tank.
[photo of Anamanaguchi performance from The Tank’s website]
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Pedro Velez and Maria Saldana / Kunstfascion
Go see it tomorrow! It’s open until 5!
We checked out this great show today. I only have time for a quick post, but I wanted to recommend it in case anyone’s looking for some new art to see tomorrow in Manhattan. I’m uploading some more photos to Flickr.
James has more info, and the show’s website has videos from the opening night performances.
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I just received email that James Nicholson Gallery has closed. I’m glad I saw their last group show.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that their space is being taken over by two interesting galleries out of Frankfurt, Galerie Adler and Galerie Poller. I can’t wait to see shows from those two here in Chelsea.
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